my oscar has recently started hanging around the top of my tank whenever he sees me nearby. i don't think i feed him too much he's around 5 inches and today i will feed him two fat earthworms one this morning one tonight. is this enough/too much?

Should be enough.

Remember, having enough food or not, oscars are "automatically" hungry. And it shouldn't be too much, cuz he still got a long way growing.

I honestly think that they recogise us as the givers of food! If i walk past the tank they get all excited and swim to where i usually put the food in.....sometimes i drop food into the other end just to keep them on thier toes lol

Ambars_Os wrote:


X2 they know for sure we bring the food. and just like a dog they sit and beg it takes a strong will not to keep feeding them, if you give in you could end doing more water changes than needed. what you currently give seams enough as MHN said.

marcus wrote:


lol im a sucka for over feeding Ozzy, he takes mussles from my hand so i cant resist! Mind you, my filter feels it lol

Oscars are professional beggars and are always hungry. Dont give in because if you feed them too much you will end up with poor water and your fish will get ill.

juvenile oscar is always hungry....thus, a 2 or 3 minutes rules is a good
guide in feedings..... and remove whatever is left or uneaten to lessen
bioloads. i normally feed them 2X a day during this stage.

I'm with Paul's rule... what they an eat in 3 mins. Mine LIVE at the top of the tank if we are in the room... lights on or off! They do the "feed me" dance if we get anywhere near the tank. But 2 feedings a day for no longer than 3 mins.

HaHa... Now I know to keep Oscar one needs to have a strong will of controlling the feeding too... I think I had been over feeding them all this while... No wonder they grow soooooo fast... My Blackie get from 2inch to now 6inch in less than 3months!

I usually buy like 15-20 small fishes and pour in at one go and let them enjoy themselves... I assume this is a wrong move, right? I should feed them few fishes at one go for twice a day instead?

Hmmm... I can't tell you that you are wrong with the feeders because I do the same thing. It may take them about 10-12 hours to eat them but they do! You just can't do that very often. They need a good variety of food. Mine get feeders about twice a month, pellets in the am and then either blood worms or meal worms at night. Twice a day only! If they have feeders, they usually miss a feeding. Just my routine. Anyone else can chime right in with what SHOULD be done!

Mine have feeders on rare occasions as the fish here are so expensive, even minnows are about £1 a go!!! So mine have pellet am and frozen food pm

delboybully wrote:


x2